I want to acknowledge the 25th anniversary of 9/11. The event divides the timeline of those of us who came of age before the attack. The 20 years preceding it seem more innocent and naive. The image of the falling Twin Towers defined us for the next twenty years and kicked off a century of unrest and discontent in the American psyche.
We’ve been embroiled in some war for almost the entire time. We’ve gone from a nation that celebrated the melting pot to one demanding a wall. The man who was America’s mayor on 9/11 ended his career in a parking lot of a landscaping company, making false accusations about a stolen election. Much of the division in the country today seems to stem from a singular event that shook us to the core.
Those who came of age after 9/11 have never known a world at peace and have lived in almost constant transition. They grew up with phones we couldn’t even imagine in 2001. Social media gave them a warped sense of truth and reality, though they are probably less susceptible to distortions than many of us who knew a world before them. They went through the Great Recession, the pandemic, and Donald Trump—twice. They’ve never experienced stability.
They did not have to live in such a world. The aftermath of 9/11 was our country’s great missed opportunity. Never have I felt more American or more unified than in the weeks immediately following the attack. For a fleeting moment, George Bush seemed to be the right leader for the times. His speech at Ground Zero brought a wounded nation together. He offered us hope for the future. And then he spoiled it by invading Iraq in a cynical and naive attempt to remake the Middle East.
This first quarter of the 21st century has been difficult, and it feels like 9/11 started it. I hope that in the next 25 years, we can reconcile our divisions and learn lessons, not just from the attack, but from the aftermath, too. We need a period of healing and reconciliation. We owe the generation that came of age after 9/11 some stability.
If we owe them anything, we certainly owe them that.
Yes, we certainly owe several generations a stable country as they were coming of age.
Millennials: two major recessions, mass shootings, two longest wars in American history and COVID.
Gen-Z: first truly digital natives, first use of social media plus what the Millennials went through.
Gen Alpha: heavy use of social media and AI plus what the Millennials and Gen Z went through.
Gen Beta: too early to even guess.
IMHO, even with a stable country, the future is still very uncertain because the world is changing so rapidly (e.g. climate change, population). I’d love to work on stability, but with tweens and teens I think I’m doing my best by at least helping them to be somewhat knowledgeable about tech (e.g. AI, quantum computing and virtual reality).
I welcome any suggestions about how to help “kids these days” have an easier coming of age.